Welcome to the gardens of Arcadia! As your eighteenth-century counterparts discovered, garden visiting was an enjoyable way to spend time,
if one had the money and leisure to develop the taste for such occupations. However, garden visiting was not always plain sailing. At the
very least there may be tickets to buy or knowledge to be obtained about when a garden might be accessible to visitors.
We hope that this digital visiting experience will allow you to enjoy the sights and smells of the gardens through the descriptions of eighteenth-century visitors,
without such limitations or having to endure the inconvenience of travelling in a cramped coach or staying at a less than salubrious inn.
Copyright of this website and accompanying publication rests jointly with Clare Hickman and Linden Groves
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Lawn
[A View of the Palace from the Lawn, in the Royal Gardens at Kew 1763, William Woollett (1735-85), Etching | RCIN 702947.a, Royal Collection Trust / © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2015.]
It may be many times bigger than the average family’s twenty-first-century lawn, but that at Arcadia would still be recognisable as the location for much childish fun, particularly hoop rolling and cricket games. Follow this link to see what hoop rolling was all about!
Dear Pip
I wish you was here to play at hoop with me, and sisters and sister Peggy. I have got a gold coach-and-six papa gave me, and the horses are two dragons, two sober-sides, and two snips; but you are too big to ride in my coach. “Tantive” that’s the hunting song, - I can sing it all. My love and kiss to you. That’s all from your
Affectionate servant,
Tichfield
[(Bulstrode), The Marquis of Titchfield to Mrs Dewes, Bulstrode, 30 Nov 1740 (from Mrs Delany’s Letters)]
It's time to play quoits! Download the instructions here
[‘The Wood Children’, Swanwick Hall, 1789, by Joseph Wright, ©2016 Derby Museums]
Bills for toys for John Frederick Sackville (born c.1779) to enjoy at Knole in the eighteenth century include “’butts and stumps - £0.8s.6d.’ for playing cricket.
(Knole), Robert Sackville-West, Inheritance: The Story of Knole and the Sackvilles, p132.
Ticket Booth
[Ticket to view Strawberry Hill, 1774, Folio 336G (Courtesy of The Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University)]
Garden visiting became so popular in the late eighteenth century that fashionable places such as Strawberry Hill began issuing tickets to would be visitors with set visiting hours and rules regarding numbers. However, if you were well connected you could often still turn up at a garden unannounced and be shown its various exotic blooms and latest improvements by a gardener.
The Hon Mrs Boscawen reported her visit to Luton Hoo in October 1776 in a letter to Mrs Delany.
You may be sure that I did not réclamer the one or the other, or even mean to let her [Lady Bute] know I was so near her; my aim was to see that delightfull conservatory in particular and the garden in general. As I pass’d the castle-gate on my way to the town, we enquired of the porter about seeing the garden, which he said we might do, and come in there, only keeping the gravel road, which would lead directly to the garden: it did so, and there I entertain’d myself highly above an hour; the gardener more civil and agreeable that ever I saw one, the conservatory more delightfull. Here I was talking to him of Mrs Delany, when a servant came from Lady Bute with her most kind commands to dine with her en famille; I obey’d immediately, for dinner hour was very nearly come…..
Having set out early next day she went on to report her next garden visit to Wrest Park:
I chose rather to proceed to my lodging at the inn because of setting out early next day for Wrest, which I did, and had fine weather to see (at leisure) those immense gardens which contain 150 acres. We spent nearly three hours there, having a good little boy that shew’d it us, whom we made wait as long as ever we pleas’d, giving him part of the contents of our basket to stay his stomach, for we din’d in ye gardens; they are Versailles in some places, in others a more pleasing English garden, in which, however, Mr Mason cou’d make some improvements. The water very pleasant and beautifull every where, except in one square looking-glass near an immense heavy ugly building call’d the Pavilion. I long’d to see the house, fancying I shd find pictures – portraits at least; but as they told me it was never shown when the family was there, I wou’d by no means ask to see it, especially as I heard my Lord was less well that day than he had been for some time. [The Hon Mrs Boscawen to Mrs Delany on 17 October 1776]
This was not always the way though as we can see in the next account:
Not such was our reception at Lady Di. Beauclerc’s on Muswell Hill; tho’ we met her ladyship taking an airing, and that Mr. Beauclerc was in town, yet they would not admit us to see the conservatory (which was all we aspir’d to) without a ticket. Resistance you know, always makes one more obstinate, so Mrs Leveson has wrote to Sr Joshua Reynolds to beg he will obtain this necessary passport. [The Grove, Muswell Hill: The Hon Mrs Boscawen to Mrs Delany, 14 October 1776]
Shepherd’s Lodge
There was a fashion in the Georgian period for creating ornamental versions of previously utilitarian rustic buildings, such as shepherd’s huts, and placing them within the landscape garden.
The Shepherd’s Lodge at Arcadia reflected the eighteenth-century enthusiasm for make-believe, for gentlemanly farming as a noble pursuit, and for role-playing a life infused with classical rural activities.
The Shepherd’s Lodge. Built in a gothic taste, and prettily tufted with trees – one of the rooms of this house is curiously decorated with shades in profile of his lordship’s family and friends… this has a strange, whimsical appearance; and the likeness, they say, have so perfect a resemblance, that every one acquainted with the living objects, immediately know, and point them out. The other room is adorned with prints, stuck close together on the walls; such as landscapes, and perspective views of the most celebrated houses and gardens. The staircase is as whimsically plaistered with old songs, maps, and Christmas carols – this is not only amusing, but the simplicity of such ornaments are in character, and aptly correspond with the genius of the shepherd swain, who is supposed to be the inhabitant. [(Envil) Joseph Heely Letters on the Beauties of Hagley, Envil and the Leasowes, 1777]
Grotto
[A View of the Bridge and Grotto at Calwich by Mrs Delany, 1756. (National Gallery of Ireland)]
Grottos have been popular features in gardens for many centuries, conjuring images of mystical caves and inspiring imaginations. In the eighteenth century, these man-made but naturalistic caverns would often be decorated with shells or ornamental rockwork, and the process of constructing them was as entertaining for their owners as their eventual use as places for entertainment or contemplation.
We know from Mrs Delany’s letters that she enjoyed creating shell work for grottos like the one in Arcadia.
About half-a-mile from hence there is a very pretty green hill, one side of it covered with nut wood; on the summit of the hill there is a natural grotto, with seats in it that will hold four people. We go every morning at seven o’clock to that place to adorn it with shells – the Bishop has a large collection of very fine ones; Phill and I are the engineers, the men fetch and carry for us what we want, and think themselves highly honoured…. This affair yields us great diversion, and I believe will make us very strong and healthy, if rising early, exercise and mirth have any virtue.[(Killala), Mrs Delany [then Pendarves] to her sister Mrs Ann Grenville, 29 June 1732]
Our daily amusements I have so often repeated; that you have them by heart, but are they not pretty; do you not wish yourself extended on the beach gathering shells, listening to Phill while she sings at her work, or joining in the conversation, always attended with cheerfulness? perhaps you had rather rise by seven and walk to the grotto with your bag of shells, and a humble servant by your side, helping you up the hill and saying pretty things to you as you walk? though maybe you choose to be at work in the grotto shewing the elegancy of your fancy, praising your companions’ works, and desiring approbation for what you have finished? if this is too fatiguing, ‘tis likely you would prefer working or reading till dinner, after that eating nuts and walking to gather mushrooms, &c. [(Killala), Mrs Delany [then Pendarves] to her sister, 6 September 1732]
Grotto
Grottos have been popular features in gardens for many centuries, conjuring images of mystical caves and inspiring imaginations. In the eighteenth century, these man-made but naturalistic caverns would often be decorated with shells or ornamental rockwork, and the process of constructing them was as entertaining for their owners as their eventual use as places for entertainment or contemplation.
We know from Mrs Delany’s letters that she enjoyed creating shell work for grottos like the one in Arcadia.
About half-a-mile from hence there is a very pretty green hill, one side of it covered with nut wood; on the summit of the hill there is a natural grotto, with seats in it that will hold four people. We go every morning at seven o’clock to that place to adorn it with shells – the Bishop has a large collection of very fine ones; Phill and I are the engineers, the men fetch and carry for us what we want, and think themselves highly honoured…. This affair yields us great diversion, and I believe will make us very strong and healthy, if rising early, exercise and mirth have any virtue.
(Killala), Mrs Delany [then Pendarves] to her sister Mrs Ann Grenville, 29 June 1732
Our daily amusements I have so often repeated; that you have them by heart, but are they not pretty; do you not wish yourself extended on the beach gathering shells, listening to Phill while she sings at her work, or joining in the conversation, always attended with cheerfulness? perhaps you had rather rise by seven and walk to the grotto with your bag of shells, and a humble servant by your side, helping you up the hill and saying pretty things to you as you walk? though maybe you choose to be at work in the grotto shewing the elegancy of your fancy, praising your companions’ works, and desiring approbation for what you have finished? if this is too fatiguing, ‘tis likely you would prefer working or reading till dinner, after that eating nuts and walking to gather mushrooms, &c.
(Killala), Mrs Delany [then Pendarves] to her sister, 6 September 1732
Cascade
[A View of the Cascade, Bushy Park Water Gardens c1715, Studio of Marco RIcci, Belluno 1676-Venice 1730, (RC1N 402592 Royal Collection Trust / Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2015)]
The visual and atmospheric effect of a cascade of water has been appreciated by many generations of garden makers. Within the landscape garden they were often designed to appear natural, with torrents of water rushing through woodland setting. However they could also be formal and appear overtly manmade, perhaps with an accompanying terrace and geometric shapes to create a striking effect.
Nothing can be more engaging than the walk from the seat, to the outside of this romantic spot … the impetuous torrent of one cascade rushing down a chasm near your foot … another seen at a distance through the trees, pouring over rocks its whitened foam; and as you stand on my favourite plank, looking down the sloping channel edged with laurels, the boat-house, over the broad lake, will hold you long in admiration of its beauty, and picturesque situation… turning to the cascade behind you, and then to its troubled water below, you have other feelings…it is true, nothing was ever better formed to create surprize, and pleasure; but at the same time one cannot help being affected with a sort of terror, standing in the very midst of an incessant roar of water, and seeing it break with such resistless fury… I declare I considered myself as a victim devoted to its rage, and expected every moment, upon some sudden burst, to be washed, without any kind of ceremony, down the torrent, into the dreary hollow below. [(At Envil), Joseph Heely, Letters on the Beauties of Hagley, Envil and the Leasowes, 1777]
Folly
[A View of the Bridge and Grotto at Calwich by Mrs Delany, 1756. Photo © National Gallery of Ireland. Not to be reproduced or duplicated without written consent]
There is more to gardens than plants and trees, and Arcadian garden makers knew that the presence of buildings in the landscape could be highly effective. Many garden buildings were created with no earthly practical purpose but simply added for their visual effect. The most well-known of this type were ‘follies’. These were seemingly ruined buildings that were constructed in a deliberately derelict state in order to attempt to give a landscape an air of antiquity, dignity or melancholy. They often also acted as places to rest on a walk or ride, and therefore made the most of any viewpoints from which garden visitors could admire the surrounding landscape.
You have not the least intimation of a design upon you; nor any suggestion that you are on the highgrounds; till the folding-doors of the buildings at Mowbray-point being thrown open, you are struck by one of the grandest, and most beautiful bursts of country, that the imagination can form.
[(Mowbray Point, Hackfall), William Gilpin Observations, relative chiefly to picturesque beauty, made in the year 1772: on several parts of England; particularly the mountains, and lakes of Cumberland, and Westmoreland, 1786]
Hermitage
In the eighteenth century there was a craze for building hermitages. These were small rustic hovels in which garden visitors could imagine that solitary and often spiritual figures resided. The main intention was that by visiting these buildings people would be inspired to reach their own state of contemplation. In some cases, real people were actually employed to live in the buildings as hermits!
I spent the day very pleasantly; it is a fine place by nature and they are both fond of the country; she delights in farming, and he in building and gardening, and he has very good taste. They have a lodge about a mile from their house, where they spend most of their time; it has all the advantages of water, wood, and diversified grounds: and there the new house is to be built. Nothing is completed yet but an hermitage, which is about an acre of ground – an island, planted with all the variety of trees, shrubs and flowers that will grow in this country, abundance of little winding walks, differently embellished with little seats and banks; in the midst is placed an hermit’s cell made of roots of trees, the floor is paved with pebbles, there is a couch made of matting, and little wooden stools, a table with a manuscript on it, a pair of spectacles, a leather bottle; and hung up in different parts; an hourglass, a weatherglass and several mathematical instruments, a shelf of books, another of wooden platters and bowls, another of earthen ones; in short everything that you might imagine necessary for a recluse. Four little gardens surround his house – an orchard, a flower garden, a physic-garden and a kitchen-garden, with a kitchen to boil a teakettle or so; I never saw so pretty a whim so thoroughly well executed. [(Lord and Lady Orrery, Ireland), Mrs Delany to Mrs Dewes, 2 August 1748]
Lake with island, bridge & boathouse
[The Gardens at Kew 1759, Johan Jacob Schalch, 1723-89, oil on canvas (RCIN 403517 Royal Collection Trust / Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2015)]
Landscape gardens of this period almost all included a lake at their centre. This provided a focus for the eye but also a place for diverting activities such as fishing, boating, and waterside strolls. They were also used to host many and varied entertainments.
There is a gravel walk from the house to the great lake fifty-two feet broad, and six hundred yards long. The lake contains 26 acres, if of an irregular shape, with a fort built in all its forms; there are islands in the lake for wild fowl, and great quantities of them that embellish the water extremely. I never saw so pretty a thing. There are several ships, one a complete man-o-war. My godson is governor of the fort, and lord high admiral; he hoisted all his colours for my reception, and was not a little mortified that I declined the compliment of being saluted from the fort and ship.
[(Dangan, Ireland), Mrs Delany to Mrs Dewes, 15 October 1748]
[A View of the Palace from the South side of teh Lake with teh Temples of Bellona and Aeolus & the House of Confucious in thh Royal Gardens at Kew circa 1766, Pierre Charles Canot, 1710-77, etching (RCIN 702947.h Royal Collection Trust / Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2015)]
[Wilton House from the southeast, between 1758 and 1760, Richard Wilson, Oil on canvas (Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection)]
The boat-house from whence this landscape is taken, is an octagon, prettily ornamented within by festoons of flowers, and medallions in stucco. A curious sliding window, that opens to the water, adorned with painted glas in whimsical groups of grotesque figures, is certainly very ornamental; but this stained glass, amusing as it is to the generality of people, excludes, when the window is shut, a variety of objects infinitely more interesting.
(Envil), Joseph Heely, Letters on the Beauties of Hagley, Envil and the Leasowes, 1777
[George Morland, 1763–1804, British, A Party Angling, 1789, Oil on canvas, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection]
Well (as I was saying in my last to you), we went a-fishing to the most beautiful river that ever was seen full of islands delightfully wooded. We landed on one of the islands belonging to the gentleman that carried us there – Mr Mahone. A cloth was immediately spread on the grass beneath the trees, and within view of the winding of the river, great variety of provisions was produced. We sat ourselves down and partook very plentifully and merrily of the good cheer before us; our sweet Phill supplied the place of nightingales, and the weather favoured us…. We staid on the water till eight o’clock.
[(Castlegar, Ireland), Mrs Delany to her sister, 12th June 1732]
Your Journey to them [fish ponds] is short and easy, and your Eye will be often upon them, which will conduce to their being well kept, and they will be an Ornament to the Walks’.
[Roger North, A Discourse of Fish and Fish Ponds, 1713.]
Parks, Bowling-Greens, and Billiard Tables, are of the same Design; but it will be easily granted, this of Fish is beyond ‘em all.
[Roger North, A Discourse of Fish and Fish Ponds, 1713.]
Seat
[A Seat in Wood Island, Hollymount, by Mrs Delany, 28 June 1745. National Gallery Ireland. Photo © National Gallery of Ireland. Not to be reproduced or duplicated without written consent)]
One of the chief amusements in the landscape garden was to take a walk along its many paths in order to take in the views. These walks could be long, so paths would be dotted with carefully placed seats from which to admire the scenery. More wild and picturesque seats could even be carved from existing rocks.
There are several prettinesses I can’t explain to you – little wild walks, private seats, and lovely prospects. One seat particularly I am very fond of, in a nut grove, and “the beggar’s hut”, which is a seat in a rock; on the top are bushes of all kinds that bend over: it is placed at the end of a cunning wild path, thick set with trees, and it overlooks the brook, which entertains you with a purling rill. [(Delville) Mrs Delany to Mrs Dewes, 19 July 1744]
[The Indian Seat at Wroxton by Mrs Delany, National Gallery Ireland. Photo © National Gallery of Ireland. Not to be reproduced or duplicated without written consent]
I stepped to another small bench at a few paces distant, where I thought the beauty of the cascade appeared yet more consequential, and that by a glimpse of a stone quarry, high among the trees, forming a romantic perpendicular precipice above the head of the water – a fear, which, though purely accidental, proves a noble appendage; and if more of it were seen, it would render the scene still more admirable.
Here, or on the back of the other bench, I read these lines.*
-----Lucis habitamus opacis,
Riparumque toros et prate recentia rivis
Incolimis –
Unsettled we remove
As pleasure calls from verdant grove to grove;
Stretch’d on the flow’ry meads, at ease we lie,
And hear the silver rills run bubbling by.
PITT
[(Leasowes), Joseph Heely, Letters on the Beauties of Hagley, Envil and the Leasowes, 1777]
Bathhouse
[A view of the Cold Bath Field in Delville Garden by Mrs Delany, 1748. National Gallery Ireland. Photo © National Gallery of Ireland. Not to be reproduced or duplicated without written consent]
The gardens at Arcadia include a bath-house. This was an ornamental building containing a small pool, known as a cold bath, which was usually fed directly from a spring. Immersing oneself in the very chilly waters was viewed as both a fashionable and healthy activity - by those brave enough to try it at least!
Lord Chief Justice is very busy adding to his house and altering his gardens: Mr Bristowe has the entire direction of all, but I cannot say he has shown so much real judgement as conceit in what he has done. In one part of the garden is a cold bath that opens with an arch like a cave, that is put under my care to adorn and make something of, and I have presumed to undertake it. When finished I’ll send you a little sketch of it. I have got your harp shell, and will send it you, and the Elizabeth edging, the first opportunity. [Mrs Delany to Mrs Dewes, 16 June 1750]
..a Souse into that delicious Bath and Grot filld with fresh Magic, is Asiatick Luxury & too much for Mortals or at least for Subjects,..
Henry Hoare in a letter of 1764 during the heat of summer
[(Stourhead) Copy from Tottenham Park papers held at Stourhead House in Henry Hoare II, Box File 2 (Correspondence, family, 1760-81)]
Chinese building
Changing trade relations with China over the course of the eighteenth century led to a fashion for all things Oriental in Britain. Garden owners were not immune to this shift in taste and they even created small Chinese-style buildings in their gardens. Although fuelled by passion for the East, these buildings were often not like any actual Chinese buildings but rather inspired by a vague sense of the exotic!
The Boat arrived Yesterday and was fix’d/ We try’d it three or four times, and did not stick by the way at all. The Chinese Building is pretty forward, but the Painter says it will not be finished before Monday or Tuesday. [(Wrest), Amabel Grey to her mother Marchioness Grey, 3 September 1761. (Beds Record Office L30/9/51/1)]
View
[A View of the Improvements in the Stone Quarry at Cornbury, the Seat of the Earl of Clarendon in Oxfordshire by Mrs Delany, 15th November 1746. Photo © National Gallery of Ireland. Not to be reproduced or duplicated without written consent]
By the time our Arcadia was created, owners had gone beyond creating views that took in just the immediate gardens, and were as interested in those views that could be obtained over the boundary wall and beyond. Throughout descriptions of garden visiting at this time, references were often made to the beautiful countryside in which the estates were set.
I mounted the hill, and found soon after, the forest give way to a beautiful and capacious plain, at once the glory, and the pride of Envil… the transition does not surprize, but it fills the eye as it reposes on the slanting hill covered with numerous groups of sheep, with ineffable pleasure. [(Envil), Joseph Heely, Letters on the Beauties of Hagley, Envil and the Leasowes, 1777]
Every step I took, quickened my expectation… the distant country broke upon me by degrees, till at length the grand circle was held up in all its magnificence … Those pathetic lines of Milton, as I slowly wandered along the broad sublime level, in admiration of the splendid prospect, wrought on my feelings, and I could not help repeating aloud, “These are “thy glorious works, &c.” [(Envil), Joseph Heely, Letters on the Beauties of Hagley, Envil and the Leasowes, 1777]
It has been a charming day, and the field below my garden has exhibited a busy scene of haymakers and a grateful smell of hay. [(Glan Villa), The Hon Mrs Boscawen to Mrs Delany, 2 August 1779]
Menagerie & Aviary
[A View of the Aviary and Parterre, in the Royal Garden at Kew, circa 1763, Charles Grignion, 1721-1810, etching (RCIN 702947.1 Royal Collection Trust / Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2015)]
As well as taking a delight in wild animals and birds, many garden owners also specially-built attractive menageries and aviaries for their more exotic collections of creatures. The sound from the aviaries and menageries of the Georgian garden must have provided an enchanting and sometimes surprising soundtrack for the garden visitor! In common with many other examples, the aviary in Arcadia is surrounded by unusual plants arranged in flowerbeds.
But what think you of a menagerie here of extraneous birds? – it is true, there is a pleasure in contemplating the variegated plumage, and different forms of creatures brought from distant climes; but, that such a costly ornament as a menegere, should be brought to grace a cottage, of all places, is not only a very singular circumstance, but admits of the strongest doubts of its eligibility. – Perhaps you will be ready to excuse it, when you are sensible that an indigent family is maintained, and placed here, through charitable motives, meerly to be attentive to the wants of the fowls- this speaks benevolence only; it does not invalidate the objection in regard to the locality of the object. – The proper place for a menegere, I should think, is a gay garden, among fine objects; and quite in character, if placed as wings to a green-house, or to a pinery; as it may be said, the bird bear some relation to the various exotic plants, natives of the very clime they themselves came from.
[(Envil), Joseph Heely, Letters on the Beauties of Hagley, Envil and the Leasowes, 1777]
The whole is laid out in the modern Taste, of Flowering Shrubs, Lawns, Clumps, & c. In Part of it there is a beautiful Managerie, and between the Habitation of each particular Fowl, a Plantation of the finest Flowers, which when in full blow, perfume the Air at a considerable Distance. Beyond that is a fine Green House, piled up with Oranges and various Exotics; behind which is an Aviary of every kind of Singing Birds who are so conceal’d by the Trees, that tho’ they fill the Garden with Harmony, it is impossible to discover whence it proceeds. [(Oatlands), Anon, Description of the Gardens and Buildings at Kew, in Surrey, undated]
Pagan Altar
The eighteenth century saw a great fascination with classical culture, and many garden features were introduced specifically to give a sense of antiquity, such as the pseudo Pagan Altar.
We were all much pleased with the Pagan Altar, it was new to us, for it was not even begun when we were there, it was generally approved of I assure you. I want to know who was the chief inventor, it really does honour to their taste, it is quite an uncommon thing, I admire the upper Cornice vastly with the broken pieces [sic] falling down.
[(Wrest), Charlotte Campbellto Marchioness Grey, October 1748 (Beds Record Office 30/9/21/1)]
In return for your compliments to Trentham, I must inform your Ladyship that the Duchess of Bedford, with a Party, have been at Wrest since you left it, in order to shew it to Lady Louisa Trentham. They were at the Hill-House by Day-light, they say, but walked over the Garden by Moon-shine; however they saw enough to excite their Curiosity extremely as to the Altar, & taking it for an Antiquity, at least in its shape & design, they went home & turned over Montfaccion & Kennet, but without success, & the Duchess had applied to me, since her coming to Town, for some explanation of it – But perhaps your Ladyship has heard all this already in Staffordshire. [(Wrest), Lady Anson to Marchioness Grey, 13 August 1748 (Beds Record Office L30/9/3/5L30/9/3/7)]
Temple
[David Garrick and his wife by his Temple to Shakespeare, Hampton, circa 1762, oil on canvas, Johan Joseph Zoffany (Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection)]
Earl Havernot created a temple to Vesta at Arcadia, to attract the eye from the terrace, and to provide a destination for walks. It was very similar to that described by Mrs Delany at Dangan.
In his garden is a fir-grove, dedicated to Vesta, in the midst of which is her statue; and some distance from it is a mound covered with evergreens, on the top of which is placed a temple with the statue of Apollo, Neptune, Prosperine, Diana, all have due honours paid to them, and Fame has been too good a friend to the master all these improvements to be neglected; her Temple is near the house at the end of a terrace, near which the four Seasons take their stand, very well represented by Flora, Ceres, Bacchus, and an old gentleman with a hood on his head, warming his hands over a fire. [(Dangan, Ireland), Mrs Pendarves [Delany] to Mrs Ann Granville, 5 April 1733]
Canal
View of Such Parts as are Seen from the Building at the Head of the Lake at Stowe, Buckinghamshire, Jacques Rigaud (French, Marseilles 1681–1754 Paris), ca.1739, Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1942, www.metmuseum.org
The canal at Arcadia provided the focus for many amusements, some of which were rather lavish and accompanied by music.
At ten the gardens were illuminated with above a thousand lights, and the water before the grotto was covered with floating lights. At the farther end of the canal on the Ship, which was curiously figured with lights, was a place for the music, which performed all supper time. [(Stowe), Account of the visit of Princess Amelia in July 1764 from Kate Felus: see further reading list]
[Francis Harding, active 1730–1766, British, Warwick Castle, ca. 1764, Oil on canvas, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection]
Deer park
[Althorp Castle, Northamptonshire, William Daniell, 1769-1837, (Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection)]
Surviving from the medieval period, Arcadia’s deer park was still well stocked and much enjoyed in 1751 when it was used as a venue for the popular sport of hunting. Today, you can still see deer roaming through the trees.
D.D. is raising his paddock-wall. About a fortnight ago a man got over it with three dogs and set them at our deer but luckily the gardener saw them before any mischief was done; we now have sixteen deer. We killed a doe some time ago, as fine fat venison as ever was eaten, but I own, though D. D. laid a plot to deceive me, when I discovered it was one of my own deer it took off my pleasure of eating it, but that’s a folly I must try to break myself of, for they breed so very fast and thrive so prodigiously, and our fields cannot well maintain above 15 or 16. [(Delville), Mrs Delaney to Mrs Dewes, February 1751]
Roothouse
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries it was popular to build a ‘roothouse’ as a feature to be spied on a garden walk. These little buildings were quirky rustic constructions of bark and twigs, often with tree roots twisting around them. The example at Arcadia survived only a few decades, but you can still see the foundations on this spot today.
Mr Wray & Mr Edwards came here on Saturday, & will stay out this Week. As a Preservative from Dulness this place is the very busiest scene you can imagine. All kinds of Business are going on here with all Sorts of Materials from Brick & Stone with which the new Room is slowly rising, to Roots & Faggots & Faggots that compose a House erecting in the Garden under Mr Edward’s direction who has great fame in the World as a Wooden Inigo. It is placed near the altar at one end of the grove that stands in, & will look very rustic & suitably to the Ancient Persic Simplicity – or should you rather suppose it a British Work, you would not quarrel with it for that I hope, if it does but agree with the plain & solemn appearance of the whole place. (I might perhaps tell you that it causes great disputes in the Country whether it is design’d for a Barn or a Woodstack, but I would drop that for the honour of my Neighbours. I think I must get an Eolus’s Harp to hang up among the Trees, it will really do vastly well, & I thank you for having nam’d One & put it into my Head. [(Wrest), Marchioness Grey to Lady Talbot, 3 August 1749 (Beds Record Office L30 /9a/5/132)]
Lady Austen's lackey, and a lad that waits on me in the garden, drove a wheelbarrow full of eatables and drinkables to the scene of our fete champetre. A board, laid over the top of the wheelbarrow, served us for a table; our dining-room was a roothouse, lined with moss and ivy. At six o'clock, the servants, who had dined under the great elm upon the ground, at a little distance, boiled the kettle, and the said wheelbarrow served us for a tea-table. We then took a walk into the wilderness, about half a mile off, and were at home again a little after eight, having spent the day together from noon till evening, without one cross occurrence, or the least weariness of each other — a happiness few parties of pleasure can boast of.
(Olney), William Cowper to Rev William Unwin, 29 July 1781
Parkland
Arcadia’s parkland was widely agreed to be one of the finest in the county, having been designed by Capability Brown. Not everyone was impressed by Brown’s work though. In 1774 Mrs Delany declared of his work at Luton Hoo:
They have opened the view to the river, and the ground and the plantations are fine. It would be better if there was a greater command of the river, and if MR. BROWN had not turn’d all the deer out of the park; they are beautiful enliveners of every scene, where there is a range sufficient for them. [(Luton Hoo), Mrs Delany to Bernard Granville, 16 September 1774]
Round the free Lawn here gadding Heifers stray,
And frisking Lambs in sportive Gambols play.
[(Stowe), G.B. Clarke, ed., Descriptions of Lord Cobham’s Gardens at Stowe 1700-1750, 1990]
Billiard room
Billiards became a fashionable game in the Georgian period. Although it was more common to find dedicated rooms within the house, garden buildings could also find themselves being built or adapted for the use of this game.
The Billiard Room. This is a stately gothic edifice, extremely well executed, and does much honour to the designer. Its inside is curiously and richly adorned with stucco; the ceiling remarkably so. At one end, in a niche, is a bust of Homer; at the other, a Cicero. A billiard table, and a small organ, are the furniture of this superb room; and you have from the windows a lively view, resulting from the garden, the lawn, and the woods. [(Envil), Joseph Heely, Letters on the Beauties of Hagley, Envil and the Leasowes, 1777]
Haha
[The Long Canal and Gibbs Temple, Hartwell House, Buckinghamshire, Balthasar Nebot, 1700-1770 (Buckinghamshire County Museum)]
Hahas were an invaluable device in the eighteenth century for keeping the cattle and sheep in the parkland where they animated the view whilst preventing them from accessing gardens nearer the house were they could cause expensive damage. A sunken ditch acted as a barrier that prevented livestock from leaving their designated area, but without the visual intrusion of a fence or wall.
From hence you turn along a pleasant Green Walk, backt with all sorts of Flowers, and Flowering Shrubs, when you come to the middle, you find a pretty Garden Seat, where you set down and view the House, and a pretty paddock, devided from the Gardens by a Ha Ha ditch, the paddock is stockt at this time with two fine Cows, two black Sows, a Bore, and a Jack Ass. [John Macclary, gardener at Rousham, ‘A Description of Rousham’, letter written in 1750 (Rousham House Archives)]
Bowling Green House with nine-pin alley & tennis court
[View of a Gloucestershire House: A Garden View, with Picnic Party in Center Foreground, circa 1755, Thomas Robbins (Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Centre)]
Bowling was a widespread and popular sport in the eighteenth century and at Arcadia there was even an attractive pavilion next to the bowling green, in which players could enjoy tea or shelter from unexpected rain showers. Nearby was an alley for ninepin bowling and also a tennis court.
In the afternoon we drank tea in the Bowling Green house, or rather under the arcade, from whence the view of the water & the old oaks beyond it is very fine.
[(Wrest), John Campbell , 3rd Earl of Breadalbane, To Marchioness Grey, 8 June 1774)
Where smooth and level as the Summer Main,
[The Bowling Green and the Octagon Pond, Hartwell House, Buckinghamshire, Balthasar Nebot (c.1700–c.1770) Buckinghamshire County Museum]
My next work will be to make a nine pin alley, which I have undertaken to do; we have a little odd nook of a garden, at the end of which is a very pretty summer-house, and in the corners of it are houses built up for blowing auriculas; it is upon the whole of a triangular form, long and narrow, much like this scratch [diagram in the book]. The walls to be covered with evergreens, and room enough for borders of flowers. It was originally designed for a nursery for flowers, but the walls are too close, it is very near the house, and will make a special nine-pin alley, which I think a very merry exercise. We had thoughts of having a bowling-green before our house in the garden front, but the hill, which descends gradually to the brook, looks so natural and pretty as it is, that it would be a pity to make it level: and so we determine to keep it a lawn, and to have sheep. [(Delville), Mrs Delany to Mrs Dewes, 25 Jan 1745-6]
The last day we ever met there he proposed to me a party on the water. The weather was excessive hot and fine; he said his sister was ready to wait on me, and desired me to take what company I pleased, and that that he had bespoke a barge of musick to attend us. The temptation was almost irresistible, but I thought it not prudent, and refused all his entreaties, at which he left me disappointed and chagrined, and instead of going on the water, put off the barges that were waiting on the waterside and went to the Tennis Court, where a ball struck him between the eyes and knocked him down. [Mary Granville [Mrs Delany] as a young woman. Letter XV in her autobiography. Undated but possibly 1720s]
Credit to freesfx.co.uk
Ride or Walk
The landscape at Arcadia, like most others of the period, was intended to be enjoyed via a predetermined circuit tour, taken on foot, on horseback, or in a trap.
I passed my time very agreeably … the weather so constantly fine that I tour’d round the park, or winding thro’ a variety of ridings every day for two hours, with Lady Bute in her little low chaise. [(Bulstrode), Mrs Delany to Mrs Port, 31 August, 1777]
Indeed there is a riding round the extremity of the grounds, cut as a glade for the purpose of that enjoyment in a carriage. – This may be agreeable to some, and permission is given by the mobile proprietor to the visiting parties who chuse it, to take that advantage: but this liberty is of little consequence to people of taste; they will never suffer themselves to be confined to an idle, lounging vehicle, in the midst of so many beauties, where almost every step varies the scene, and every variation so capable of existing pleasure. [(Envil), Joseph Heely, Letters on the Beauties of Hagley, Envil and the Leasowes, 1777]
We have had Rain enough for some Days, to make several Places in the Garden very wet: the Gardener says he is obliged to keep the Canals very low; whether anything else could be done, I know not. By the way, he says too that he has put Roses, Carnations or Stocks into the Hothouse, & the white Ducks & Drake are in the Drying Yard. I took the Ladies yesterday up on the further Terrass yesterday. I wetted my Shoes quite through: they think it is the prettiest part of the Garden. One Morning the Gentlemen tried the Woods about the Hillhouse, but could find nothing, & we look’d at them from the Windows & Lady Hume likes both the Ornaments & Prospect very much. I would not have you think that the Gentlemen have seen nothing of the Garden, but they seem to have walk’d it by themselves & they are pleas’d with the Walk that goes round it. The Gravel Path round the Hill as [sic] been impassable all along, & I believe that round the Old Park is impassable at present. [(Wrest), Amabel Grey 1761 to Marchioness Grey (her mother) 23 December 1773 (Beds Record Office L30/9/51/1 L30/9/60/26)]
I have been strolling most part of the Morning (& a very fine one it is) with my Book & my two Companions, not my two Gentlemen I assure you, they follow their own Inventions on Horseback, but my Dog & my Fawn. Have I ever told you how rurally I have been equip’d all the Summer with a tame Fawn? I believe not & I wonder at it, for it’s a great Beauty & a great Favourite, & I have been obliged to it for a very fine Shepherdess Air when it is so good to follow me about the Garden. [(Wrest), Marchioness Grey to Mary Gregory 1740 (Beds Record Office L30/9a/1)]
Flower garden
It is a common misconception that eighteenth century landscapes were limited to green swards of grass and tree plantations, but flower gardens were a popular feature too, with a wide range of scented flowers being grown.
Our garden is now a wilderness of sweets. The violets, sweet briar, and primroses perfume the air, and the thrushes are full of melody and make our concert complete. It is the pleasantest music I have heard this year, and refreshes my spirits without the alloy of a tumultuous crowd, which attends all the other concerts. Two robins and one chaffinch fed of D.D’s hand as we walked together this morning. I have been planting sweets in my “Pearly Bower” – honeysuckles, sweet briar, roses and jessamine to climb up the trees that compose it, and for the carpet, violets, primroses and cowslips. [(Delville), Mrs Delany to Mrs Dewes, 29 March 1746)
Yesterday the weather was very agreeable – a soft air and no rain; I walked almost two hours without resting. The trees and grass were so green, and the flowers so sweet, that I was deceived for some time, and took it for spring;… I walked from one flower-plot to another, till I composed a nosegay of anemones, carnations, roses, honeysuckles, sweet williams, jessamine, sweet briar and myrtle, full of pleasing reflections. [(Northend), Mrs Pendarves to Mrs Ann Granville, 10 Oct 1737]
Yesterday morning, after breakfast, we all sallied forth to walk. We fed all the animals, such as bantams, guinea-fowl, pheasants, peacock, ducks, drakes, widgeon, teal, and an animal that is neither monkey, fox, nor squirrel but something of each creature, very harmless and tame, kept in the flower garden, and has a hard name that I can’t remember; it is larger than a great cat. [(Bulstrode), Mrs Delany to Mrs Dewes, 14 Nov 1749]
That strange odd creature I mentioned is a Java hare.[(Bulstrode), Mrs Delany to Mrs Dewes, 4 Dec 1749]
For tho’ the weather has been very bad I seldom fail of a walk or airing, or both, and find business in my garden to plant or remove. I have been enlarging my borders which sounds well, as in a figurative sense it may mean purchase of lands and increase in demesne; but to tell the truth it must be understood in the literal sense, for my borders are enlarged just 14 inches d’un bout jusqu’á l’autre, and being well enrich’d with good mould, have such a profusion of jonquils, ranunculus’s, and tulips and hyacinths sett in them that when I have the honour to see you in the month of May, you shall fancy yourself in Flora’s own cottage.[(Glan Villa), The Hon Mrs Boscawen to Mrs Delany, 13 Nov 1775]
Grove
[The North West Woodlands with Gardeners Scything, Hartwell House, Buckinghamshire, Balthasar Nebot, c1700-1770 (Buckinghamshire County Museum)]
Amongst his many other works at Arcadia, Capability Brown refined the geometric seventeenth-century grove into a more naturalistic collection of trees with twisting paths and dappled glades. This was widely admired, but doubts were expressed when such changes were first proposed at Wrest.
Instead if he [Capability Brown] does as he promises, consider of & mark trees for cutting both in the Grove & middle part, & look over the Kitchen Garden, it would take him up the Hours of Daylight, but I wish you was not to be troubled an Evening with him. I can only recommend that as he is Every Thing, Politician, (Divine for ought I know) Farmer, Lover of Virtue, you may set him upon any subject, or throw Books in his way, & show him your Sketches & Drawings, and there is besides a copious fund on the subject of Two Great Men of Luton & Hayes, whom he really does know a good deal of if he is disposed to be communicative. As to his idea about the Grove what I could collect is that it must be left to him upon the Spot, but in general that he would try to Unsquare it, (as I should do) would take of Formal purpose, or cut through, irregularly, the corner toward the Old Park, & break in the Outlines, particularly towards the Parterre where the Shadows are so strong. [(Wrest Park), Jemima, Marchioness Grey to Lady Bell Polwarth, 1779]
[A View of the Back Front of the House and part of the Garden of the Earl of Burlington at Chiswick, circa 1760-66, after John Donowell (RCIN 701784.g Royal Collection Trust / Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2015)]
My garden is at present in the high glow of beauty, my cherries ripening, roses, Jessamine and pinks in full bloom, and the hay partly spread and partly in cocks, complete the rural scene. We have discovered a new breakfasting place under the shade of nut-trees, impenetrable to the sun’s rays, in the midst of a grove of elms, where we shall breakfast this morning; I have ordered cherries, strawberries and nosegays to be laid on our breakfast-table, and have appointed a harper to be here to play to us during the repast, who is to be hid amongst the trees. Mrs Hamilton is to breakfast with us, and is to be cunningly led to this place and surprised. [(Delville), Mrs Delany to Mrs Dewes, 22 June 1750]
The space left by so well varied an outline, is a rambling glade, widening into a circular area, running up and ending in a bold sweep of wood, in which the eye is led to a statue of a piping Faunus, fancifully glancing within a break of the trees. Hence we learn that part of the dell to be dedicated to the rural deities – pleasingly reminding us of those excursive flights of poetical invention, giving revelry and dance to the ideal god, and his jolly crew: while on the other hand, the soft murmurs of a rill, and a lone urn in a solitary nook, have equal power to call the mind from festivity to solemn meditation, and to fill it with those tender feelings, of which we are susceptible, when any circumstance recurs, to revive the memory of a lost friend. [(Leasowes), Joseph Heely, Letters on the Beauties of Hagley, Envil and the Leasowes, 1777]
 wilderness.jpg )
[The Wilderness, Hartwell House, Buckinghamshire, Balthasar Nebot, circa 1700-1770 (Buckinghamshire County Museum)]
Kitchen garden with hothouses & glasshouses
[Thomas Rowlandson, 1756–1827, British, Feeding the Ducklings, undated, Watercolor with pen and brown ink over graphite on medium, slightly textured, cream, wove paper, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection]
The walled kitchen garden kept the entire household fed, including staff, with fruit and vegetables far more varied than those we enjoy today. To enable this productivity, an array of hothouses, glasshouses and teams of gardeners was required.
Besides this, there is a very good kitchen-garden and two fruit-gardens, which, when proper repairs are made and they are set in order, will afford us a sufficient quantity of every thing we can want of that kind. [(Delville), Mrs Delany to Mrs Dewes, 19 July 1744]
It is not unworthy of remark, that here are left to range among the vegetables several tortoises, which are become so familiar, as to attend regularly the gardeners at their meals, and eat the leaves they offer from their hands. One of these is upwards of sixty-three years old, which is ascertained by the following circumstance: When Humphrey Marshall, of West-Chester, North-America, was a boy, he caught this tortoise, and marked it in such a manner as to enable him to identify it afterwards. These animals, which are of slow motion, seldom travel far from their native soil, and scarcely a year elapsed without his recognizing this individual for the space of sixty-three years after it had been thus marked. H.Marshall sent it as a present to the proprietor of Grove-Hill. This was about eight years ago, so that this little quadruped is upwards of seventy years old. [Dr John Coakley-Lettsom, Grove-Hill, An horticultural sketch, 1794]
[Windsor Castle c. 1710, Attributed to British School, eighteenth century, Oil on canvas | 68.2 x 83.0 cm (support, canvas/panel/str external) | RCIN 400926, Royal Collection Trust / © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2015.]
[Windsor Castle c. 1710, Attributed to British School, eighteenth century, Oil on canvas | 68.2 x 83.0 cm (support, canvas/panel/str external) | RCIN 400926, Royal Collection Trust / © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2015]
Today we are busy, for all our green-house plants are hous’d, and we pretend to display much in taste in ranging them. By and by there will be a semicircle and the horse-shoe bench in the centre (all surrounded with geranium blossom and balm of Gilead) will be very warm and pleasant, and fragrant. The principal figure is a yellow carnation which having miss’d its opportunity to blow, is now making itself and us amends. [(Glan Villa), The Hon Mrs Boscawen to Mrs Delany,14 October 1776]
I will send you a packet of seeds from Mr Bromton. Did you sow the feather grass seed, and does it appear yet? I am so plentifully supplied with the hothouse here, and from the Queen’s garden at Kew, that natural plants have been a good deal laid aside this year, for foreigners, but not less in favour. O! how I long to show you the progress I have made!... [(Bulstrode), Mrs Delany to Mrs Port, 20 Oct 1777]
Orangery
[Conservatory at Thoresby Hall, Nottinghamshire, studio of Sir Jeffry Wyatville, 1766-1840 (Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection)]
Having been introduced to the idea of growing oranges by John Parkinson in 1629, the British gentry made orangeries a common garden feature by the eighteenth century. With trees grown in containers, often with wheels on the bottom of them, the orangerie combined the design features of a green house, in terms of a warmer artificial climate, with wide doors which would allow the trees to be wheeled outside in the summer.
I am now considering about a greenhouse [orangery], and believe I shall build one this spring; my orange-trees thrive so well they deserve one. I propose having it 26ft. by 13, and 13 high, and a room under it (with a chimney for my poultry-woman) that will open into a little back garden, which I intend to make my menagerie. [(Delville), Mrs Delany to Bernard Granville, 19 Jan, 1750-1]
Lawn
[A View of the Palace from the Lawn, in the Royal Gardens at Kew 1763, William Woollett (1735-85), Etching | RCIN 702947.a, Royal Collection Trust / © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2015.]
It may be many times bigger than the average family’s twenty-first-century lawn, but that at Arcadia would still be recognisable as the location for much childish fun, particularly hoop rolling and cricket games. Follow this link to see what hoop rolling was all about!
Dear Pip
I wish you was here to play at hoop with me, and sisters and sister Peggy. I have got a gold coach-and-six papa gave me, and the horses are two dragons, two sober-sides, and two snips; but you are too big to ride in my coach. “Tantive” that’s the hunting song, - I can sing it all. My love and kiss to you. That’s all from your
Affectionate servant,
Tichfield
[(Bulstrode), The Marquis of Titchfield to Mrs Dewes, Bulstrode, 30 Nov 1740 (from Mrs Delany’s Letters)]
It's time to play quoits! Download the instructions here
[‘The Wood Children’, Swanwick Hall, 1789, by Joseph Wright, ©2016 Derby Museums]
Bills for toys for John Frederick Sackville (born c.1779) to enjoy at Knole in the eighteenth century include “’butts and stumps - £0.8s.6d.’ for playing cricket.
(Knole), Robert Sackville-West, Inheritance: The Story of Knole and the Sackvilles, p132.
Terrace
[View of the Parterre from the Portico of the House, Jacques Rigaud (French, Marseilles 1681–1754 Paris), ca.1739, Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1942, www.metmuseum.org]
The terrace at Arcadia was one of the widest in the country, and was frequently used for entertaining, with musicians and dancing.
We sat in the bay-window, well pleased with our companions, and the brilliant show in the terrace, on which we looked; the band of music playing all the time under the window. – When they returned we were summoned into the next room to tea, and the Royals began a ball and danced two country dances, to the music of French horns, bassoons, and hautboys, which were the same that played on the terrace. [(Windsor Castle), Mrs Delany to Hon Mrs Hamilton from Mrs Delany, June 28 1779]
[After Highmore, Anthony (1718-1799), RCIN 702885 Royal Collection Trust / © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2015]
The Duchess of Portland, I think has been much affected by it [long course of damp weather], and has had an attack of her rheumatick complaints; I thank God the violence of the pain is abated, but it robs her of the enjoyment of her garden and park, except out of the window, but the hares feed as usual, and have a circle of food prepared for them every evening: there are never less than between 20 and 30 at supper! [(Bulstrode), Mrs Delany to Bernard Granville, 10 October 1774]
[Prospect of Hampton Court from the Garden side, dated 1738, Attributed to Bartholomew Roque (fl. 1738), Etching | RCIN 702881 Royal Collection Trust / © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2015]
Fête champetre saloon
[Fête Champêtre c.1728-36, Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Pater (1695-1736), Oil on canvas | RCIN 400671 Royal Collection Trust / © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2015]
The eighteenth-century garden often acted as a back drop for sociable occasions and Arcadia was no different. It even had a saloon built in the landscape in order to create a magical scene for an extravagant party known as a Fête Champetre. Made popular in Versailles, France, this particularly flamboyant type of party involved guests dressing up in a pastoral clothes, often as shepherds and shepherdesses, and taking part in activities such as country sports and dancing.
I think it is a fairy scene that may equal any in Madame Dànois; nothing at least in modern days has been exhibited so perfectly magnificent – every body in good humour, and agreed that it exceeded their expectation. The master of the entertainment, (Lord Stanley), was dressed as Reubens, and Lady Betty Hamilton (for whom the feast was made), like Reubens’ wife. The company were received in the lawn before the house, which is scattered with trees and opens to the downs. The company arriving, and partys of people of all ranks that came to admire, made the scene quite enchanting, which was greatly enlivened with a most beautiful setting sun breaking from a black cloud in its greatest glory. After half an hour’s sauntering the company were called to the other side, to a more confined spot, where benches were placed in a semicircle, and a fortunate clump of trees in the centre of the small lawn hid a band of musick; a stage was (supposed to be formed) by a part being divided from the other part of the garden, with sticks entwined with natural flowers in wreaths and festoons joining each. A little dialogue between a Shepherd and a Shepherdess, with a welcome to the company, was sung and said, and dancing by 16 men and 16 women figuranti’s from the Opera lasted about half an hour; after which this party was employed in swinging, jumping, shooting with bows and arrows, and various country sports. The gentlemen and ladies danced on the green till it was dark, and then preceded the musick to the other side of the garden, the company following, where a magnificent saloon had been built, illuminated and decorated with the utmost elegance and proportion: here they danced till supper in a most convenient and elegant apartment, which was built quite round the saloon of a sufficient breadth and height to correspond with the saloon; after the supper, (which was exceedingly good, and everybody glad of it as the evening had begun so very early, all the company being assembled in the saloon,) and interlude in which a Druid entered as an inhabitant of the Oaks, welcomed Lady Betty Hamilton, and described the happiness of Lord Stanley in having been so fortunate, and in a prophetic strain foretold the happiness that must follow so happy an union which with chorus’s and singing and dancing by the Dryads, Cupid and Hymen attending and dancing, also it concluded with the happiness of the Oak making so considerable a part in the arms of Hamilton; a piece of transparent painting was brought in, with the crest of Hamilton and Stanley, surrounded with all the emblems of Cupid and Hymen, who crowned it with wreaths of flowers. From the great room in the house a large portico was built, which supported by transparent columns and a transparent architecture on which was written, “To Propitious Venus”. The pediment illuminated, and obelisks between the house and saloon. People in general very elegantly dressed the very young as peasants; the next as Polonise; the matrons dominos; the men principally dominos and many gardiners, as in the Opera dances. [(Oaks, Epsom), Mrs Delany to Mrs Port, Description of the Fete Champetre given at Lord Stanley’s Villa, the Oaks near Epsom on 9th June, 1774]
[Fête Champêtre with a Flute Player c.1720-36 , Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Pater (1695-1736), Oil on canvas | RCIN 400673 Royal Collection Trust / © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2015.]
Wood
[Thomas Gainsborough RA, 1727–1788, British, Clayton Jones, 1744 to 1745, Oil on canvas, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection]
Woodland on eighteenth-century estates not only provided valuable income from the sale of timber, but were also noted elements in their own right and provided opportunities for communing with the wilder elements of nature.
Holly Mount: …,as soon as dinner was over we walked to Wood Island, where the Dean amused himself with his workmen, and I at my work under the shelter of a young oak in which D.D. has made a very snug seat. When he had discharged his labourers we set forward for adventures; and as bold as Don Quixote, he undertook, armed with a stout cane instead of a lance, and I (with my shepherdess’s crook) followed intrepid, to penetrate the thickest part of the wood, where human foot had not trod I believe for ages. After magnanimously combating brakes, briars, and fern of enormous size and thickness, we accomplished the arduous task, and were well rewarded during our toil by finding many pretty spots enameled and perfumed with variety of sweet flowers, particularly the woodbine and wild rose which grow here in great abundance. [Mrs Delany to Mrs Dewes, 21 June 1745]
[Attributed to James Holworthy, 1780–1841, Miss Templeton, Mr. Holworthy and Miss Crewe, Sketching in a Wooded Landscape, undated, Watercolor and pen and black ink on medium, slightly textured, cream laid paper, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection]
Drive
[Unknown artist, eighteenth century, Calke Hall, Derbyshire, the Seat of Sir Henry Harpur, Bt., ca. 1734, Oil on canvas, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection]
Arcadia’s long drive was created in 1720 after the original approach to the house was diverted in order to create a more impressive and scenic arrival and tour of the estate for guests. Carriages were the main method of transport for the Georgian elite, but other forms of transport could also be enjoyed!
I laughed immoderately at the new carriage and wished for you there, more than ever I did when flaunting a coach and six. The rest of the company were conveyed home in a chaise, being too proud for carting. You must understand that we are as private in this place as heart can wish, and we may do a hundred frolics of that kind without any other witnesses than the servants of the house. [(Killala), Mrs Pendarves [Delany] to Mrs Ann Grenville, 6 September 1732]
[George Stubbs, 1724–1806, British, Phaeton with a Pair of Cream Ponies and a Stable-Lad, between 1780 and 1784, Oil on panel, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection]
Ferme ornée
The eighteenth century saw a cultural fascination with the rural, inspired by classical ideals, which prompted many garden owners to create their own fantasy farms, in which they could act out their vision of farming life. The ferme ornée at Arcadia is typical of this fashion.
With the beauties which enliven a garden, are everywhere intermixed many properties of a farm; … the lowing of the herds, the bleating of the sheep, and the tinklings of the bell-wether, resound through all the plantations; even the clucking of poultry is not omitted; for a menagerie of very simple design is placed near the Gothic building; a small serpentine river is provided for the water-fowl, while the others stray among the flowering shrubs on the banks, or straggle about the neighbouring lawn. [(Woburn), Thomas Whately, Observations on Modern Gardening, 1770]
Welcome to our gardens of Arcadia where you, our visitor, can experience our smooth lawns, tranquil glades and sensational grottos!